How to watch the Ironman World Championship women’s race in Kona
The 2023 Ironman World Championship women's race takes place in Kona, Hawaii, on 14 October. Here's how to make sure you don't miss a second of the action…
This year marked the first year that the Ironman World Championship took place on different days, in two different locations.
The first, the men’s elite and age-group races took place on 10 September in Nice, France, where Frenchman Sam Laidlow took the win.
The women’s elite and age-group races will take place on 14 October in Kona, Hawaii. Here’s everything you need to know for the second of those two epic races and, most importantly, how to watch the Ironman World Championship.
What happened at last year’s Ironman World Championship?
The 2022 Ironman World Champs saw a return to racing in Kona after a three-year hiatus due to Covid. It was also the first time the event was split over two days for the men’s and women’s races to each have their own day.
The men’s race was a day of falling records and epic first-time performances, as rookie Gustav Iden took a colossal 11 minutes off Jan Frodeno’s 2019 course-record time.
In the women’s race, fellow first-timer Chelsea Sodaro became only the second mum to win the title in the race’s history and the first US woman to win the race in 27 years.
The two-day format had its detractors, however, and rumours soon began circling about how the schedule might change going forward. Then in January this year, the news was finally confirmed – we were off to Nice and Kona in 2023.
Who is racing the 2023 women’s Ironman World Championship?
Ironman have now announced the full pro start list for Kona.
Among the top names heading to Hawaii are Brits Lucy Charles-Barclay, Ruth Astle, Kat Matthews and Fenella Langridge, reigning world champ Sodaro, five-time world champ Daniela Ryf and former world champ Anne Haug.
Other key athletes racing include the reigning 70.3 world champ Taylor Knibb, Germany’s Laura Philipp, the USA’s Skye Moench and Sarah True, and Sweden’s Lisa Norden.
Look out for Mel McQuaid as well, racing her first Kona as a pro aged 50 years young.
The Ironman World Championship course
With its brutal heat, pummelling winds and gruelling hills, Kona is a place where anything can happen – and usually does.
The 3.8km swim is a straight out-and-back in the bay, the only distraction coming from the occasional inquisitive marine life – not sharks, no competitor has even been nipped, just stung, as jellyfish have been know to disrupt the flow.
Daniela Ryf even suffered a particularly bad jellyfish attack in 2018. Don’t be deterred though, she still went on to break the course record that day.
Most people look at the elevation profile of the 180km bike course and think that the 19km climb up to the turnaround point is the make-or-break point. But looks are deceiving, and the actual determinant is an invisible enemy.
By the time the competitors are well on their way to T2, they’ll be pedalling against those pesky headwinds. Out on the highway, with the sun nearing its peak and not a drop of shade to be found, disaster can lurk behind every lava rock.
The 42.2km run is rolling, with some steep parts that are actually faster to walk up. From 22-30km is where you start getting the clearest indications of the finishing positions.
When does the women’s Ironman World Championship start?
The professional women’s race will be starting at 6:25am local time, the para women at 6:27am and the age-group women at 6:40am.
The UK is 11hrs ahead of Kona, so that means a start of 5:25pm for the pro race.
How to watch the 2023 women’s Ironman World Championship
Global audiences can watch live, for free, via the Ironman website and you can also follow the athletes along on the excellent Athlete Tracker App.
Top image credit: Tom Pennington/Getty Images for Ironman
Liz Barrett
220 Deputy Editor 
